I'm not quite sure where to strike the balance between HE and AP. When running a DD, I'll usually leave it on high explosive. You can usually start fires with them anyway, making the target waste his repairs.

I never give orders and don't expect ppl to pay attention to who's around im. I fire over a guy's bow though to let im know I'm there BB, and I'm getting pissed b/c he's in the way. I can't change course very fast, that's why the big guy has the right of way. dammit. Ppl get focused on their own gunnery. I'm just as guilty as anyone I think there s/b a horn ppl can blast and it's only heard by ppl near im. I don't mind adjusting course to accommodate but damb if there isn't always some guy sailing right into me. gesh!

When Im dd, cl, ca, I always make sure to stay out of a bb's way. I follow a reverse golden rule where I expect ppl to treat me the way I treat them

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I'm not quite sure where to strike the balance between HE and AP. When running a DD, I'll usually leave it on high explosive. You can usually start fires with them anyway, making the target waste his repairs.

I usually start on HE and flip halfway through the fight.

DD - Just us HE all the time. You might do a bit better with AP against Light Cruisers but even that's doubtful unless you have a nice close perpendicular shot at his broadside. Besides, those small Destroyer guns' AP damage only do an extra 100 dmg (out of a couple thousand) AND they'd have to fully penetrate (which isn't often) to do that much. Go HE.

CL - Almost like DDs. Use HE on nearly everything except other CLs and, then, only up close and shooting at a side.

CA - Use HE on DDs and BBs. Use AP on other cruisers showing a fair bit of their broadside to you. With the larger cruiser guns (8" aka 203mm), you can get some decent penetrations on BBs out past 10km due to the plunging fire striking the thinner deck armor from above but don't always count on it. Fortunately the HE on most heavy cruiser guns are pretty good at repeatedly starting fires, especially on the ones with LOTS of guns (like the Cleveland's dozen six inchers).

BB - Use HE on DDs. AP on the rest.

There are some exceptions where you'll want to use HE instead of AP:

1) Causing fire on CVs will prevent them launching aircraft. So if you're concerned about the ridiculous torpedo bomber spam, then continue to light him up with HE to cause deck fires until you're sure his repair ability is spent and you've created more fires. AP will kill faster though, in most cases.

2) When a target you'd normally use AP on is heading directly toward or away from you, and not turning to show a broadside. You can still get some decent AP damage, depending on your gun size & the target but, those big Citadel AP hits will not. Your call on whether to use HE. I only tend to switch with Cruisers since their reload time isn't as long as BBs.

*Pay attention to how much damage your hits are doing. If you hear that metal scraping sound, when getting a hit with AP, then it probably just bounced off the armor or did "light" damage. If you keep seeing those hits, it may be time to switch to HE. Likewise, the huge citadel crits have their own metal punch sound and you'll see some big damage with those. Just keep that up.

You'll start noticing the differences in the higher tiered ships. They tend to have more armor, the higher they are rated.

Was getting some really good consistent hits with the St. Louis CL.Upgraded to a Phoenix and have the enhanced model with guns that range out to 13.7 km and topredoes with 5.5 km range. She is my first ship with torps.

I think I am doing rather poorly with her.the extended range guns have me wanting to snipe from max range (and missing horribly). Hitting from so far away ain't easy. Then the torps have me wanting to use those but you have to get in close to do that and more often than not I am getting mauled trying to get in that close with a larger sized ship---there is a lot of area for them to shoot at.

I guess I just need to find a good balance...use the guns for a more reasonable range and use the torps as a weapon of opprtunity for when I get into a close in scrum.

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I tried torpedo ships and gave up on im almost straightway. I can't hit the broadside of a barn w/ a torpedo, I suck at it. No problem I'm going along the US bb path. Got a Wyoming class before bedtime. Long range and big guns

_________________This post is not a legal document under any circumstance. It has not been prepared at all and is written offhand in jest while mentally impaired.Do not act or rely on any of this information without first seeking the advice of a psychoanalyst.

Was getting some really good consistent hits with the St. Louis CL.Upgraded to a Phoenix and have the enhanced model with guns that range out to 13.7 km and topredoes with 5.5 km range. She is my first ship with torps.

I think I am doing rather poorly with her.the extended range guns have me wanting to snipe from max range (and missing horribly). Hitting from so far away ain't easy. Then the torps have me wanting to use those but you have to get in close to do that and more often than not I am getting mauled trying to get in that close with a larger sized ship---there is a lot of area for them to shoot at.

I guess I just need to find a good balance...use the guns for a more reasonable range and use the torps as a weapon of opprtunity for when I get into a close in scrum.

You need to stick around islands to mask your approach for torpedo use. Notably so for the short ranged American torpedoes; they are a pain in the ass to get into range without taking a face full of gunfire. So, yeah, weave around the islands.

Japanese torpedoes are longer ranged, so more forgiving. Although the longer range just means your target will have more opportunity to maneuver before they arrive. Either way, you still need to predict how much your target will change it's course by then. Battleships are the easiest to hit since their turret traverse & reload time is so slow that they tend to cruise a straight course for longer periods and can't turn to avoid them, when spotted, very well. Many of the smaller ships tend to turn more often when under fire so you want to aim your spreads short of the predicted path.

The best practice for torpedo shots is in Japanese DDs since they have the lowest detectability range. If you can avoid aircraft, you can get into torpedo range with them just before being detected, so you won't have to withstand a bunch of enemy fire while closing. American DDs are more difficult, again because of their torpedo range, but they can still get much closer than CLs before being spotted.

I've seen a successful DD sit behind an island full-stop, unspotted, while waiting on an enemy ship to come through & fire a spread at it up close for a quick kill. Very risky, though, if their guns are already trained in your direction or an enemy aircraft squadron flies by and spots you before the trap is sprung. The bigger ships can kill you very quickly up close like that.

If your torpedo reload times aren't bad, then feel free to let loose a salvo of them towards a choke point between islands in the enemy's direction, at range. You have unlimited torpedoes so if nothing's going on, use them as area denial. I've got the occasional lucky hit out of the longer ranged ones this way and it can also buy some time when someone has to concentrate on dodging them.

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